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Interesting Post from scout

This morning, someone close to the Cal program discussed the precise thinking of the staff regarding the QB situation with me.

Coach Tedford's thinking on the subject is pretty simple: he is incredibly disappointed with the entire team's performance in Los Angeles. While it would be satisfying to many fans to see ZM benched, he does not believe that scapegoating his starting QB would be particularly productive, as the entire team showed up flat last Saturday.

Coach Tedford is of the mind that ZM can get it done at home. Bowl eligibility is now the only priority for the team, and Maynard has played his best football at home. Coach believes the absence of bowl game practice really hurt the team this season, and he will do whatever it takes to get the team to the 6-win threshold. It is not simply important because of the intrinsic value of additional practice for a young team, but because it is very important to everyone on the team and in the Athletic Department that next season's team shows well when Memorial Stadium re-opens.

Coach Tedford straight up believes that Maynard gives Cal the best chance to reach the 6-win mark. With the way Maynard has played at home against inferior teams, Coach believes that he has progressed enough to to where he can beat two below-average Pac-12 teams at home. Bridgford is a bit more of an unknown at this point, and Coach believes it is riskier to start AB in one of the most important games of the season, when we have ZM, who has played much better at home than on the road. His belief is that Maynard will provide the team two consecutive Utah-type performances against WSU and Oregon State, at which point, with bowl eligibility in Cal's back pocket, the team will have the flexibility to incorporate a new QB into the rotation if necessary. The staff is still thinking that everything will "click" for ZM, and this stretch of two games is not the time to pull him, as they believe the Utah performance shows he is close.

Two important additional points:

If Cal loses the next two games in a similar fashion to the UCLA losses, it is pretty well-understood that ZM will back-up another QB the rest of the season. There will be open competition for the starting job in spring and fall practice next season, but with the loss of the possibility of bowl eligibility, the staff will see what else they have at QB on the roster.

Coach Tedford is a Cal Bear through and through, and he realizes that his results have been unacceptable the last few years. Coach is a very confident man, and believes this team can turn things around and have a solid season this year, with a bowl victory that can propel Cal into being a contender next season.

I hope this appeases the people calling for Coach Tedford's head. He feels these losses as deeply as the biggest Cal fan alive, and it gnaws at him every time the team has one of these horrible performances. Despite what many posters on Cal fan boards think, every single decision Coach makes is driven by his relentless desire to put Cal in the best possible position to win every game it plays. He knows the fans are angry. He is angry. But he has responsibilities to the young men who are under his watch to keep pursuing success on their behalf. He knows many fans will not understand his decisions, but he has the trust of his players to consider first and foremost, and he will not be swayed by the sort of knee-jerk reactions/adjustments that would satisfy the Cal fanbase. At the end of the day, he has forgotten more about football than most Cal fans will ever know, he is the person responsible for the final decisions of the program, and if he is going to fail, he is going to fail doing what he believes is best, rather than flinching in the face of pressure from fans and donors.

EDIT: We left the thread up that quoted this post for a day before moving it off the board. We'll leave it up this time with comments about Tedford's future plans with the program edited out. They run completely contrary to his staff's knowledge, leaving the veracity of that particular comment much in doubt. We'll not be a forum responsible for attributing thoughts from Jeff Tedford that do not accurately represent what he's told anyone on his staff or the media.

I get it, I just don't agree with it. He's reactive as opposed to proactive. It quite frankly takes a lot of balls to continue to throw out the train wreck15 every Saturday afternoon. Having "confidence that ZM will turn it around" is as maddening as it is sad and disappointing. Cal has to keep losing big for this guy to get it.

He knows many fans will not understand his decisions, but ... he will not be swayed by the sort of knee-jerk reactions/adjustments that would satisfy the Cal fanbase. At the end of the day, he has forgotten more about football than most Cal fans will ever know, ... and if he is going to fail, he is going to fail doing what he believes is best, rather than flinching in the face of pressure from fans and donors.

Is Tedford blaming fans and donors for the lackluster performances on the field?

wow i must have missed yesterday's thread and i'm on the site quite a bit. thanks for this. it's pretty disappointing that Tedford is stuck on getting to a bowl game this year and playing the guy who will give us a better shot to win THE NEXT 2 GAMES isntead of realizing the season is mostly shot, and setting us up for the future.

this is unfortunately pretty clear, consistent behavior from risk-averse JT. He's willing to compromise what could be a brilliant year in 2012 for the sake of protecting his downside risk (i.e. NOT getting to a bowl game this year, even though it will undoubtedly be a toilet bowl).

Outside of Keenan, I don't think the players are very happy with his sticking with Maynard through all the mistakes. They don't want to hear Maynard ragged on but they want to see Tedford try something different when it's clearly not working.

It really sounds like, beyond the PR lens on it, that Tedford don't give a crap and will stick with Maynard regardless of what others think.

You are obviously one of the biggest negabears on this board as you have shown time and time again, but how in the world do you get what the poster said to this conclusion that Tedford doesn't give a crap? Do you blindly take bits and pieces of something and build a whole thought process around it? I totally understand the negabears coming out full force in light of recent past year(s) results, but goodness, have some reasonable perspective over things.

Outside of Keenan, I don't think the players are very happy with his sticking with Maynard through all the mistakes. They don't want to hear Maynard ragged on but they want to see Tedford try something different when it's clearly not working.

This sounds dangerously like Tedford may lose the team if it keeps headed down this path. I do hope that the players take a good look at themselves in the mirror and see how they could have played better before looking around at others' performances ... everyone on this team, to a man, has at times not played to their potential or expectations

I feel bad for the guy. It's been, what, ten years now and Cal and Tedford are a bigger joke in the PAC-12 and nationally than every other team in the conference. He had a few good years in a really weak Pac-10 and with a future NFL star qb, but it's clear he's in over his head. He has no idea how to turn this team around from its downward trajectory. I'm sure he loves Cal and he's put more into this program than any of us ever will - I have no doubt about that. Take a step back, however, and it's clear as daylight that he's out of his league as the coach. If he really loved Cal, however, he would take a look in the mirror, realize that he's the one constant in this program since '07, and then help Sandy B. to find a top-caliber coach who can take this program to the next level.

Outside of Keenan, I don't think the players are very happy with his sticking with Maynard through all the mistakes. They don't want to hear Maynard ragged on but they want to see Tedford try something different when it's clearly not working.

MB, is that mere conjecture or based on private conversations with players?

You are obviously one of the biggest negabears on this board as you have shown time and time again, but how in the world do you get what the poster said to this conclusion that Tedford doesn't give a crap? Do you blindly take bits and pieces of something and build a whole thought process around it? I totally understand the negabears coming out full force in light of recent past year(s) results, but goodness, have some reasonable perspective over things.

I meant "crap" as in what outside parties like fans and donors think. Sure he cares about the program and players, but like many times, it doesn't mean his decisions are actually good for the program and players. During these times, he should do some more listening then further withdrawal. It just seems like a spiral downwards.

Based on the following quotes:

he will not be swayed by the sort of knee-jerk reactions/adjustments that would satisfy the Cal fanbase

Sure some are knee-jerk but some are legitimate. But overall, he could care less with what we think.

he is the person responsible for the final decisions of the program, and if he is going to fail, he is going to fail doing what he believes is best, rather than flinching in the face of pressure from fans and donors.